BFTG Bolton (H)

[Wycombe Royal]

Lee Chung-Yong - best player at the Mad Stad this season. By a country mile.

I disagree. He was lightweight and no end product to show for all his running around. I don't think he was even the best player on the pitch today. I don't like to say it but I thought Matt Mills was very good. Won everything and even his passing was excellent, in fact a couple of his passes forward started attacking moves that Lee Chung-Yong wasted.

[peterroyal76]

^ totally agree Mills was immense today.

[sandman]

Agreed, three cheers for Mills.

Showed the East Stand f[u]cktards up as reet f[u]cktards.

[RoyalinBracknell]

IMO I dont blame Adkins or the players, the way I see it is that Adkins has a plan of how he wants to play and unfortunately the players (Not all of them) cant adapt to it, Adkins has to stick to his plan so I guess the blame lies with all the shenanigans of different owners only having half faith in Adkins and not really opening the chequebook for him.

The players are all working as hard as they can but dont find Adkins system easy to fathom, another manager may have more success by playing a different way which suits some of the players but would the owners give a new manager money to actually see the job through? According to the remarks on the FPP I doubt it.

I don't especially see why. Surely if the players can't adapt to the plan for whatever reason the onus is on the manager to adapt the plan to the players? And to be honest I'm unconvinced by the theory that there is some genius master plan which the players just lack the ability to implement. Often I've struggled to work out exactly what the plan is - I don't see much evidence of a long-term, stable strategy even being attempted. Gary Neville said recently about Sunderland (I think) that he struggled to work out exactly what the identity of their team was meant to be - direct? Counter-attacking? Possession based? I think you could say the same about us currently.

It's quite a depressing thought to consider this might be more or less what we have for at least the rest of the season with FPP meaning there is probably not going to be any significant change in the players or the management set-up. I honestly think the soul has been ripped out of the club big time over the past year or two and this is reflected in a drop in attendances and at times over recent weeks a general apathy towards the club. Some people consider that under McDermott we were just grinding out results to take us to the league title, now we're just grinding out 0-0 draws at home to teams lower than us in the table to try and see off the threat of relegation!

[Berry]

@ RoyalinBracknell The problem is though does Adkins go back on the last year or so of his brand of football? I think he should but what message would go out to the players if he stuck his hands up and said "forget the last year or so as i got it wrong, this is my new plan" He would lose the dressing room completely.

His plan could work but he needs the pieces, I would like to see him given the chance with his players....Something needs to be done either way...Get rid or back him, Its going to be some tough times ahead either way and IMO it will take time..so more of today will be on offer im sure

[Ascotexgunner]

^ totally agree Mills was immense today.

I was sad when he decided to leave. I wish we had resigned him. Great captain. I suspect I'll get slaughtered now for saying that, but its just my opinion that he was never given the credit he deserved. No idea what went wrong at Leicester but he clearly had issues there.

[RoyalinBracknell]

@ RoyalinBracknell The problem is though does Adkins go back on the last year or so of his brand of football? I think he should but what message would go out to the players if he stuck his hands up and said "forget the last year or so as i got it wrong, this is my new plan" He would lose the dressing room completely.

His plan could work but he needs the pieces, I would like to see him given the chance with his players....Something needs to be done either way...Get rid or back him, Its going to be some tough times ahead either way and IMO it will take time..so more of today will be on offer im sure

I'm not convinced that there has been one consistent brand of football we've been playing for the last year or so though - we've seen various things at various times, few of which seem to have really worked!

I think part of the problem is we can't really back or sack right now due to FFP it seems - we can't give him much money to bring in his own players in January but equally it's debatable whether we could afford to sack him. Either way I think the manager has to have the pragmatism to come up with right strategy to get the best out of the players that are available to him (which is what Brian McDermott did excellently for 2 and a half years!)

[John Madejski's Wallet]

....... and Norwood were poor.

So wrong.

Yes he was. He is like a crab he just goes sideways. Never passes forward shocking dead ball delivery. I fail to see how he gets a game?

WTF?

He played some wonderful attacking long/through balls today

[West Stand Man]

....... and Norwood were poor.

So wrong.

Yes he was. He is like a crab he just goes sideways. Never passes forward shocking dead ball delivery. I fail to see how he gets a game?

Well, other than delivering some excellent corners, the free kick that led to the disallowed goal, some sublime passes behind the Bolton defence and tackling back to cover the defence on numerous occasions what has he ever done for us, I ask myself?

[sandman]

....... and Norwood were poor.

So wrong.

Yes he was. He is like a crab he just goes sideways. Never passes forward shocking dead ball delivery. I fail to see he gets a game?

Might help if you opened your eyes.

[Royal Ginger]

....... and Norwood were poor.

So wrong.

Yes he was. He is like a crab he just goes sideways. Never passes forward shocking dead ball delivery. I fail to see how he gets a game?

I find this view baffling. I disagree with the sideways comment. He's got vision and a pass, I thought he was good for MOTM. If/when they click he's the perfect foil for Williams who is more like a central winger, although he ran down a lot of blind alleys today.

It's easy to forget that Hector's inexperienced, he really took charge of the defense today, but was let down by repeated shocking clearances sliced strait up or to the opposition.

[tidus_mi2]

"For a nil-nil it was pretty entertaining" - Neil Lennon.

[3points]

"For a nil-nil it was pretty entertaining" - Neil Lennon.

Just saw that as well. Made me smile. Football in Scotland must be pretty dire if that was entertaining

[P!ssed Off]

My Match Report: If it wasn't so cold I would have fallen asleep.

[Elm Park]

I had to lol at the morons in front of me. In the first half every 10 mins shouting to Atkins to get Cox on. Then 15 mins after he was brought on asking if had come on and what the hell he was doing.

[marlowuk]

I try to remain positive. Even after our 0-3 defeat to Derby I came away with hope for the future but there was little to raise my spirits after this dire performance! The first half was probably the longest 45 minutes of my entire life (and - in case you're wondering - I really am an old fart!). The second half was marginally more entertaining because the dire football was played at a faster pace! Simple passes went astray; hoof-ball returned with a vengeance in the second half; headed 'clearances' went straight to the opposition; players seemed shot-shy when in good positions!

The only saving grace was that Bolton were as bad as (if not worse than) us. Bolton manager, Neil Lennon, asserted that Bolton played well, had control of the game and deserved to win. Heaven knows what fantasy world he inhabits!

OK - so we kept a clean sheet and one point is better than no points. McCleary (probably our most dangerous player) and Williams played themselves closer to match fitness. Our young central defence looked relatively strong albeit against a poor Bolton side. Those were the positives I've struggled to find.

Apart from one good cross I didn't see anything from Robson-Kanu - he was anonymous! Gunter was done for speed by their winger all match. I am a fan of Norwood but didn't see a MOTM performance from him today (actually yesterday as it's 1.40am). Feds had little to do but made a great one-handed save to his left. Murray tried hard but went down too easily (like Pog!) and I can't remember any link up between him and Robson-Kanu. They just don't seem to gel together. Cox's introduction injected some life into the proceedings but it was too late by then. Surely he has to start matches! Obita was not at his best but he worked hard and helped out in defence and looks comfortable on the ball even if it was taken off him too easily on occasions.

All in all a very poor performance against a very poor Bolton side. Players are coming back from injury - and we need to give them time - but we seem to be going backwards at the moment. Sort it if you can, Nigel, please!!

[EarleyRoyal16]

Poor performance going forward but it's another good (ish) defensive display which gets us a rare clean sheet. Albeit against a poor Bolton side.

Can't be a coincidence that Cox hasn't started our last 2 games and in both our attacking play was piss poor. Him in for Kanu and Obita moved back to the wing, please Nige.

Thought Garath looked like he was starting to get his edge back, but he's still shy of fitness and we're not seeing the best of him. Same goes for Williams, getting there but still a bit shy.

Oli Norwood was my MOTM, in an otherwise poor team he supported the defense well and his set pieces were decent and his passing range was good.

[chilipepper91]

I've just woken up. Can someone come and let me out of the stadium please?

[paddy20]

First game since Fulham home....At KO it felt like 2-30pm as there was almost a feel of a friendly match, The stadium was empty and quiet, very strange.

IMO I dont blame Adkins or the players, the way I see it is that Adkins has a plan of how he wants to play and unfortunately the players (Not all of them) cant adapt to it, Adkins has to stick to his plan so I guess the blame lies with all the shenanigans of different owners only having half faith in Adkins and not really opening the chequebook for him.

The players are all working as hard as they can but dont find Adkins system easy to fathom, another manager may have more success by playing a different way which suits some of the players but would the owners give a new manager money to actually see the job through? According to the remarks on the FPP I doubt it.

Watching bolton today you could see Lennons ideas filtering down to the players, the Korean lad in the middle was setting up great wing play with his quick tempo passes and both Bolton wingers were direct and putting in crosses when ever possible, whereas McCleary was cutting inside and going sideways on many occasion as was Obita and then not being able to shoot with the weaker foot.

IMO Readings best players were Hector,Cooper, Feds as they kept a clean sheet and Boltons best player was the lad they bought from Crewe, Max Clayton, his wing play on the right was fantastic, a great buy for £300k and only 20...Only wish he wore the hoops

The problem with having a plan first then players later is that you have to have funds to get those players. Alright if you are Liverpool or Man ute etc. I think it should be a plan that gets best utilisation of the players you have. Sadly Adkins doesn't seem to be able to do that.

[paddy20]

Poor performance going forward but it's another good (ish) defensive display which gets us a rare clean sheet. Albeit against a poor Bolton side.

Can't be a coincidence that Cox hasn't started our last 2 games and in both our attacking play was piss poor. Him in for Kanu and Obita moved back to the wing, please Nige.

Thought Garath looked like he was starting to get his edge back, but he's still shy of fitness and we're not seeing the best of him. Same goes for Williams, getting there but still a bit shy.

Oli Norwood was my MOTM, in an otherwise poor team he supported the defense well and his set pieces were decent and his passing range was good.

This idea that Obita is any good on the wing baffles me. He played there to start and his performances were not that good. He then switched to LB where he was exceptional until he lost form. He has never been any good on the wing ,but even worse in central midfield. Its so frustrating to see Adkins make the same mistakes again and again and again.